Ballymore Redevelopment

[PhilClinton]

Maybe they'll allow us to lease out the rowing areas of Sydney to be part of QLD. Didn't we get some extension creep during COVID on the Tweed border??

Where is the Sydney Rowing Centre of Excellence - THATS IN QLD!

 

[Interested Viewer]

Yes, apologies, I'd forgotten it was upstream of the barrage - regardless, still pretty big concerns about flow and other suitabilities of the venue. I've heard that the rowing bodies still reckon Sydney will end up being the final decision, which I'm sure will go down well.

you also have to remember the Fitzroy is full of the QLD flat dog and they are in abundance upstream of the barrage.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Maybe they'll allow us to lease out the rowing areas of Sydney to be part of QLD. Didn't we get some extension creep during COVID on the Tweed border??

Where is the Sydney Rowing Centre of Excellence - THATS IN QLD!

Penrith may as well be for a number of people in Sydney.

 

[JRugby2]

 

[JRugby2]

Ballymore, the state’s spiritual home of rugby, was originally slated to host hockey at the 2032 Games, only for an 11th hour decision to trigger the move to a redeveloped Gold Coast facility.
But Hanham had no fears for the future of Ballymore, adamant the Reds’ focus was to continue building it into a high-performance facility and the home of women’s rugby and rugby sevens beyond the Olympics.

That proposal included an allied health outlet, with Hanham emphasising such a development could be used by athletes from other Games codes.
“With a runway of a Rugby World Cup here in Australia for 2027, and for women in 2029 and the Olympics in 2032, our view and expectation is the legacy out of those major events needs to be a world-class training facility for rugby sevens,” Hanham said.
“We have that for our Wallaroos, and that will make Brisbane and Queensland the home for our national women’s programs. Come Olympics, we’re going to be a training venue, and we can support the athletes to prepare.
“Making sure we’ve got the best-quality facilities for our men and women, our Olympic athletes, is going to ensure we can be one of the best-performing countries in the globe.”
(Brisbane Times, Nick Wright speaking to Hanham)

Never say die I suppose?

 

[Wilson]

There is still a space for a15-20k boutique rectangular stadium in Brisbane. For whatever reason they decided to upgrade the RNA showgrounds at an undisclosed cost (previous estimates were $137 million) as a 20k seater, but specifically not use it for the olympics. As a round arena it's not going to satisfy any of Football/Union/League either.

As odd a decision as that is it does help the Ballymore case - Perry Park has no chance of getting the funding it would need now, realistically Ballymore is the only stadium cheap enough to bridge that gap anytime soon.

Still, it would've been a hell of a lot better to get the upgrade as part of the Olympic funding.

 

[JRugby2]

Seeing as we've only seen a single concept drawing I wonder if there will be provisions at the RNA to make it rectangular and host the football(s)

 

[Wilson]

Possibly, it's the only way I can see it making sense to spend any real amount of money on it. They did specifically say it wouldn't be used for Olympic sports though, it sounds like they're going to otherwise use it as a concert venue as part of scraping the Brisbane Live plan.

As an aside I don't understand what the point of building a 25k seat, $650 million aquatics centre is either, there's just no use case for it outside of the olympics. I get that the Brisbane Live proposal couldn't exist alongside Vic Park because of the cost, but I don't understand why they'd go anywhere near this big on a stand alone aquatics centre.

 

[JRugby2]

The aquatics centre will become 8K capacity post games, not sure what that means for the space (whether post games they get an extra pool for the space they regain from the seats?)

And because we swim good.

 

[Wilson]

Right, I missed that part. Makes a bit more sense now, because there's no other pool event outside the olympics that would get close to 25k in Brisbane. Maybe a one off world champs after a good olympic run, but that wouldn't be a thing to plan for. If the legacy is more public pool space and an appropriate upgrade over Chandler that's a more reasonable pay off.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Could be an extra pool but the building works for that would have to be done prior as it's not an at home shell just dropped in.

Would be a better use of space to turn it into at gym, function space or something like Gymnastics training centre that really only need a blank space filled with equipment on top that could be moved if required for things like a World Championships even though I'm not sure they draw a huge audience outside that of the Swimming community. 8k seems as big as you'd' want. Other option is to fill it with kids stuff for a water park...

 

[Adam84]

Reds Chief Executive has commented on the games investment, kept his comments pretty balanced and stressed the need to invest in Suncorp to modernise

My understanding is the government have a discretionary amount of money within the funding envelope to spend on Suncorp, and I think it would be good to understand that a little bit more,” Hanham said.

“Yes, it is a world-class venue, but it continually will need to be upgraded and renovated to maintain its status as a world-class venue.

“Suncorp is currently a world-class venue, but in eight years, will it still be? If we don’t spend money on that, then it won’t be.”

Also spoke on the future of Ballymore, and it’s role in the Olympics:

But Hanham had no fears for the future of Ballymore, adamant the Reds’ focus was to continue building it into a high-performance facility and the home of women’s rugby and rugby sevens beyond the Olympics.

That proposal included an allied health outlet, with Hanham emphasising such a development could be used by athletes from other Games codes.
“With a runway of a Rugby World Cup here in Australia for 2027, and for women in 2029 and the Olympics in 2032, our view and expectation is the legacy out of those major events needs to be a world-class training facility for rugby sevens,” Hanham said.
“We have that for our Wallaroos, and that will make Brisbane and Queensland the home for our national women’s programs. Come Olympics, we’re going to be a training venue, and we can support the athletes to prepare.
“Making sure we’ve got the best-quality facilities for our men and women, our Olympic athletes, is going to ensure we can be one of the best-performing countries in the globe.”

 

[Wilson]

The talk from inside line last night was that when (if) the national sevens program relocates to Ballymore they should be able to get funding for the Eastern stand, but probably not before. It's something they'll want to move quickly on, it sounds like there's a bit of an advantage to being one of the first sports to base the program out of Brisbane in that respect.

Not sure what that means for the project itself, but I wouldn't be surprised to see ti as a smaller capacity, but with a bit more scope for extra facilities as they have on the Western side now.

 

[PhilClinton]

What is the basis behind a potential relocation of the 7s program to Brisbane?

I know there has been ongoing conversations about World Rugby cutting the series back by a couple of stops and I am guessing that may impact 7s funding here? Would a Brisbane HQ be a cheaper option or what is the main driver?

 

[Wilson]

Not sure how much cheaper it will be for the program to be honest, though it would be a bit cheaper for players and staff. Main reason is the olympics, a fair few sports will relocate to SEQ in the lead up, partially for the best possible prep, partially to access state government funding. It might also only be the women (or at only the women at first), and there is good reason to have Wallaroos and women's 7s based out of the same facility.

 

[Adam84]

At its core, it provides a reason for the government to justify the investment.. QRU need the investment because the Eastern Stand is a ongoing maintenance liability that's offering no returns. RA lose nothing either way relocating them QLD.

But for the 7's program itself, the contractual requirement for the 7's to be based at Moore Park as part of NSW Govt contributions towards that facility will expire in the next couple of years. More broadly been based at Moore Park is shit for several reasons, the teams don't have a dedicated field to play/train on, both 7's teams have to share Kippax Oval with NRL/W and Academy teams. So often, the Women's 7's would train on some of the community sporting fields within Centennial Park, which are a 30min walk or drive from RA HQ/Training Facility.

Add in the cost of living factor for Eastern Sydney and the strong QLD representation in Womenhs 7's and there are pretty good reasons why the Womens program should relocate to Ballymore.

 

[JRugby2]

Only really on the womens side - most of the Mens team would then need to move.

 

[Adam84]

Yes, the proposal referenced above by QRU Chief is for the womens 7's team

Agree the men's 7's team is predominantly NSW/Sydney

 

[JRugby2]

So under the proposal announced in the 6-12 months to move the team up here, they only meant womens? Mens staying in Sydney?

 

[Adam84]

The proposal released previously and referenced above was for the Womens 7's to relocate to Ballymore in a new purpose built training facility where the Eastern Stand currently sits(NRTC 2.0), it didn't mention the men so assuming they remain in Sydney..

The reality is that the Womens 7's team are more likely to get decent funding for new facilities then the Men's 7's for a variety of reasons, including their Gold Medal history, better profile, better performances and the political want/need to invest in women's sporting facilities etc.